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ERIN NEGLEY\/Spotlight PA
\nPeople stand in line for milkshakes at the 2026 Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg. <\/p>\n
HARRISBURG \u2014 Last Saturday, Randy Graham joined a line that stretched into the dozens, prepared to \u201cwait it out\u201d for a storied treat: a Pennsylvania Farm Show milkshake.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey gotta be really, really good because people come here from all over the place and wait in long lines just to get to be able to sample and try a milkshake,\u201d the Erie County resident, who wouldn\u2019t usually describe himself as a milkshake person, told PA Local. \u201cSo, I just gotta see what all the hype is about.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pennsylvania Dairymen\u2019s Association, an industry group, has served milkshakes at the Farm Show since 1953. In the years since, the drink, sourced from commonwealth dairy producers, has managed to become nearly synonymous with its namesake indoor agricultural fair in Harrisburg.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re super duper addicting,\u201d said Maya Black of Hershey, who waited in line for about 10 minutes to get a shake. Black came to this year\u2019s Farm Show specifically for the beverage.<\/p>\n
David Smith, the retiring executive director of the Dairymen\u2019s Association, estimated that the group will use around 18,000 gallons of milkshake mixture at this year\u2019s Farm Show \u2014 about 40% chocolate, 40% vanilla, and 20% either strawberry or blue raspberry.<\/p>\n
At both of the association\u2019s booths within the Farm Show, a fleet of mostly volunteers greets customers and takes orders, while another group pumps out an endless stream of thick, creamy milkshakes into 16-ounce cups. Others keep the milkshake machines \u2014 there are more than a dozen \u2014 loaded with mixture. Over 400 people signed up to help this year, and each shift takes about 45 workers between the two locations, Smith said.<\/p>\n
The large crowds drawn to the liquid confection every January have led Smith to become \u201ca student about lines and people movement.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have about eight to 10 different individual lines, and many of those have 20 people in,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI\u2019ll walk out sometimes when it\u2019s really busy, and I\u2019ll stand in line to see how long it takes. \u2026 They really do move along pretty quickly. While it looks like it\u2019s very long, the time period that they\u2019re in line is very short.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018They eat, and they eat\u2019<\/p>\n
Food is a \u201cvery big deal to most people\u201d who attend the Farm Show, according to Mary Klaus, who\u2019s written several books about the event and covered it as a journalist for decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Farm Show is 24 acres under one roof, and it is a spectacular, wonderful show,\u201d Klaus said. \u201cBut so many people come in and wanna feed their faces. They eat, and they eat, and they eat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Specialized commodity groups serve up prepared eats in a full-fledged food court with selections like maple cotton candy, lamb stew and stuffed mushrooms. That includes the Dairymen\u2019s Association, which sells grilled cheese and fried mozzarella cubes (three and a half tons\u2019 worth, per Smith) in addition to the much-hyped milkshakes.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also a smaller \u201cfood court annex\u201d in a different hall, plus individual operators scattered throughout the Farm Show Complex who sell items like pretzels and tacos.<\/p>\n
It can be easy to forget the event is a massive exhibition of Pennsylvania\u2019s agriculture sector, and not just a foodie haven.<\/p>\n
Food hasn\u2019t always dominated the show, Klaus said. Although the Farm Show started in 1917, 1923 was when food became a staple \u2014 specifically baked potatoes that went for a nickel each. In Klaus\u2019s early years of covering the show, church groups would sell items like hot dogs and subs to keep people fed during their hourslong visits to the show, she recalled. Years later, the food court was introduced.<\/p>\n
Milkshakes, Klaus said, are \u201cone of the most popular things to have at the Farm Show.\u201d They came on the scene in the 1950s, when the Dairymen\u2019s Association partnered with the fraternal organization Valley Grange in Lewisberry, which secured the necessary volunteer labor to run the stand. Back then, the operation was much smaller. Shakes were made with hand-dipped ice cream and a blender and came in just two flavors: vanilla and chocolate.<\/p>\n
The Dairymen\u2019s Association transitioned to a premade mixture in 1969, according to Klaus. Smith says the switch makes for a better, more consistent product and quicker service.<\/p>\n
That efficiency is crucial, as the milkshakes\u2019 popularity has swelled over the past three decades. At the 1991 Farm Show, the Dairymen\u2019s Association sold 58,000 milkshakes, the Intelligencer Journal reported, a number that increased nearly threefold by 2015.<\/p>\n
Asked how many were sold last year, Smith said tens of thousands.<\/p>\n
Prices have gone up, too. In 1955, visitors could buy a shake for just a quarter \u2014 equivalent to about $3 in today\u2019s currency \u2014 and at the turn of the century, the treat sold for $1.50 a pop. Nowadays, it\u2019ll set you back $7.<\/p>\n
Smith said the association \u201cstruggles\u201d to figure out the \u201cright time\u201d to increase the price when they\u2019re dealing with rising costs (the most recent increase was last year), but added that \u201cthey have not seen any reduction in our sales due to a price increase.\u201d<\/p>\n
Proceeds go toward funding agricultural education programs, Smith said, adding that the Dairymen\u2019s Association has put around $6 million toward \u201ccommunity and agriculture events across the commonwealth\u201d in the past 11 years.<\/p>\n
About 2008 or 2009, the group realized it had \u201cstruck on something that was very popular\u201d and started expanding the milkshakes\u2019 footprint beyond the Farm Show Complex, Smith said. The drinks have since popped up at other events, from National Nights Out to Dairy Month celebrations in June to Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s inauguration party in 2023.<\/p>\n
The association has also expanded the available flavors over the years. Inspired by their success selling special strawberry milkshakes at a fundraiser for the PA Breast Cancer Coalition, Smith said, the group rolled out a third flavor at the Farm Show for the first time in 2016.<\/p>\n
Limited-edition flavors have debuted in subsequent years: from black raspberry (2022), to orange cream (2023), to salted caramel (2024), and mint (2025).<\/p>\n
This year, for the first time, there\u2019s a third and a fourth extra flavor: blue raspberry and strawberry, designed to be served in a $21, three-shake \u201cflight\u201d alongside vanilla to celebrate the country\u2019s semiquincentennial.<\/p>\n
The addition of a rotating flavor, which is usually announced the month before the show, has been good for the milkshakes\u2019 brand, Smith said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has really created some real energy around what we\u2019re doing,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople, you know, they want to guess, and they have suggestions. It\u2019s created some engagement with all of our customers \u2014 they want to be part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why the pilgrims come<\/p>\n
What exactly is it about the drink that motivates people to brave those big crowds year after year \u2014 in the middle of winter, nonetheless?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s local products, so it\u2019s supporting local people,\u201d Ethan Troup of central Pennsylvania told PA Local from the milkshake line on Saturday afternoon. \u201cAnd they\u2019re just good.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Cayla Hicks, who lives in the Poconos and grew up near Harrisburg, sentimentality is a big draw. The shakes used to come to her high school, she said, \u201cSo, it\u2019s been nostalgic, coming back and getting to have them again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Farm Show milkshake enthusiasts also point to the quality.<\/p>\n
Tanesha B. of Hershey said other milkshakes \u2014 like what you could get any day at McDonald\u2019s \u2014 simply can\u2019t compete with \u201cPa. dairy.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Smith, that difference is intentional. Because the Dairymen\u2019s Association represents farmers in Pennsylvania, it wants to \u201coffer the highest quality product,\u201d so its milkshake has a higher percentage of butterfat than most, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, the cost to us is a little bit more, but the taste and quality that comes along with that product is a higher quality and tasting product than you may get at some places,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
Klaus\u2019 explanation of the milkshakes\u2019 wide appeal is even simpler.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople love it because it\u2019s a happy treat,\u201d Klaus said. \u201cAnd why not have a happy treat? I mean, people lead hard lives, and they work hard, so a happy treat is good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ERIN NEGLEY\/Spotlight PA People stand in line for milkshakes at the 2026 Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg. HARRISBURG…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[105,44285,44284,28,30,29],"class_list":["post-89277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-life","tag-milkshakes-dominate-pennsylvania-farm-show","tag-milkshakes-dominate-pennsylvania-farm-showlifestyle-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}